Hall of Fame Coach Lou Holtz Dies at 89

Lou Holtz, the Hall of Fame college football coach who guided Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship and amassed 249 victories over a 33-year career at six schools, died Wednesday in Orlando, Florida. He was 89.

Holtz passed away surrounded by family, according to a statement from his family released through the University of Notre Dame, where he coached for 11 seasons. The family did not disclose a cause of death. "Louis Leo 'Lou' Holtz, legendary college football coach, Hall of Famer, bestselling author, and one of America's most influential motivational voices, has passed away at the age of 89 in Orlando, Florida, surrounded by family," the statement read. It highlighted his enduring values of faith, family, service, and belief in others' potential, noting his influence through the Holtz Charitable Foundation and the lives he touched as a leader.

Born on January 6, 1937, in Follansbee, West Virginia, Holtz grew up in modest circumstances during the Great Depression. He played linebacker at Kent State University in the late 1950s and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa in 1960. Over the next decade, he served as an assistant at...